


Fate is Cruel

by SongstressTinyTeacup



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: F/M, Heartbroken Hades, Heartbroken Persephone, Mentions of miscarriage, Seph is just so distraught, Silent but deadly grief, angsty angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:07:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22256929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SongstressTinyTeacup/pseuds/SongstressTinyTeacup
Relationships: Hades/Persephone (Hadestown)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 51





	Fate is Cruel

As Persephone’s belly began to swell and her excitement grew, the nausea began to dwindle thanks to a tea Demeter had sent Hermes down with.

Both Hades and Persephone were over the moon, and when Hades was home he spent every possible second with his wife and child that took up residence within her, his hands always on some part of her.

It didn’t really matter where, sometimes his hands rested on her shoulders, sometimes they found the slight swell of her belly, sometimes they found her own hands and intertwined their fingers.

It made Persephone smile, which made Hades happier than he had words to express.

Work had been tougher lately since Hades had insisted Persephone take a step back from ruling with him in favor of looking after herself, but those words of his had been nothing but lies to her.

He hadn’t lied because he wanted to keep her from her rightful place as his queen, but because sometimes they dealt with matters of extreme accidents and Hades _refused_ to risk distressing her, but his real concern came from the not common but extremely dangerous mine collapses. 

Persephone was a good queen, and would insist on helping to free any trapped workers in any way she could, but the idea of allowing Persephone to put herself and their baby in danger made Hades’ mouth go dry as sand and his stomach coil in knots.

Even so, Persephone had agreed to step back for the time being, quelling her husband’s anxieties, and grateful for the break as the pregnancy had made her feel tired most of the time, her body trying to adjust to caring for two people instead of one.

While Hades worked, Hecate usually came up to keep Persephone company, having traded the day shift in Tartarus for the night shift with Thanatos, who was happy for the change, and the two would pull small pranks that Hades wouldn’t find until that night or early the next day, but it was a small price to pay to see Persephone in a fit of giggles.

One day as Hades stepped out of his office to go home early, intent on surprising his wife, he was met with Hecate’s presence.

“If you’re here to prank me, do your worst.” Hades sighed, raising his head to the sky and holding out his arms in wait for the prank that would never come.

“Do I look like I’m here to prank you, bossman? I wouldn’t have left Persephone if I didn’t need to talk to you _urgently_.” Hecate rolled her eyes, tone firm and solemn.

This made all the hair on the back of Hades’ neck stand up straight, stomach beginning to tighten as his mind went to the obvious.

“You mean to tell me that Kronos got out, and you left my wife and heir unprotected?! Hecate I swear-“, Hades began before Hecate cut him off.

“Kronos is still securely trapped in Tartarus, and I didn’t leave Persephone by herself, Hermes is with her.” Hecate sighed, and Hades could see the exhaustion on her face, which did not make him feel less on edge.

An arched eyebrow was his cue for her to continue, and the next words that left her mouth might have been boulders, given how the struck him.

_“Persephone lost the baby.”_

Hades froze, eyes wide and mouth gaping for a want of words he couldn’t seem to find, brain racing with thoughts that left him as quickly as they’d come.

_How did this happen?_

  
_Why?_

  
_Persephone is a goddess, for fuck’s sakes, no other goddess has ever lost a child like this._

_Why did it have to be Persephone?_

“She wanted me to tell you, before you found her like she is right now. She’s torn up somethin’ awful, Hades. She thinks it’s her fault.” Hecate’s next statement snapped Hades from his downward spiral, but his eyes watered with tears.

“I need to go to her.” Hades’ throat constricted, words falling from his lips like broken arrows as he struggled to contain his grief, knowing Persephone would be feeling much worse.

“While we walk, I have some things I need to tell you that I’d rather Persephone not hear.” Hecate sighed, taking the ring of keys from Hades’ trembling fingers and locking the door for him, then pocketing the keys.

Hades nodded, a feeling of numbness beginning to spread through his veins as he struggled to come to terms with what had happened, beginning the walk home.

“You need to keep a close watch over her for a short while now, make sure she isn’t bleeding too much or cramping too often over the course of the next two weeks, but if she starts running a fever or experiencing chills you need to send Hermes for Eileithyia _immediately_.”

Hades nodded as the feeling spread from his heart all the way down to the tips of his toes like a slow-moving fire, the flames of numbness licking at his skin as his eyes continued to water.

He walked the path to the manor silently, mind racing as he tried to subdue his own grief to think of Persephone, how she must be feeling.

Heartbroken, he was sure. Persephone had been so thrilled at the prospect of a baby, and had stated that they could start telling people once she passed a certain stage.

A stage Persephone could no longer hope to reach.

At the sight of the manor, dark exterior against the “sky” of the underworld, Hades grew angry with fate for taking their baby from them, furious at the cruelty of the world.

Seething, Hades bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from screaming out loud as he punched straight into one of the stone pillars of the gate, leaving a few crumbling bricks there and a painful throbbing of his hand.

“Hades.” Hecate’s voice broke through his grief.

Hades looked at the goddess to his left, then flexed his hand as if to assess the damage, wincing as he realized he’d definitely broken something.

“Yes?” His voice took him by surprise, he didn’t recognize it as his own. It was weak, shaking, and sounded as lost as he felt in the moment.

Hecate prodded Hades in the arm to get him to face her completely.

Her arms were crossed, right hip jutted out ever-so-slightly as she kept most of her weight on the heel of her right foot. She meant business.

“Persephone doesn’t need the king of the underworld right now. She doesn’t need a solution to the problem, or a factory, or any extravagant gift you could even think of. Persephone needs her _husband._ She needs to be taken care of and looked after as she struggles to come to terms with what just happened.” 

Hecate’s words washed over Hades like a sheet of frigid water. He’d been so focused in that moment of his own grief that his thoughts had wandered from the only one who really mattered.

_He’d been stupid._

Hades swallowed the lump that seemed to be rising in the back of his throat, and nodded, then turned to enter the manor’s grounds. Hecate’s voice stopped him again.

The other goddess fidgeted for a moment, averting her eyes to the ground in a display of strange sentiment. Nothing like Hecate had ever done before.

“When the worst came to pass, Persephone shrieked for me to cremate....the remains... I couldn’t make myself do that. I’ve put them in the far edge of the garden.” 

Before Hades realized what was happening, he had strode over to Hecate and hugged her tightly, murmuring thanks under his breath before pulling himself away again.

Hecate nodded.

“Didn’t seem right for you not to have the chance to say your goodbyes.” 

Then Hecate was gone, and Hades was left to make the torturous walk to the front door of his home alone.

The house was silent, save the clock ticking steadily in the corner. Hermes was perched on the edge of one of the stairs, and tipped his head at Hades as the king passed by.

**Thirteen stairs that separated Hades from his heartbroken and grieving wife.**

**Twelve stairs, then eleven.**

His footsteps seemed to echo mercilessly, had his shoes no sense of shame?

**Ten, nine, eight.**

The lump in Hades’ throat grew harder to swallow.

**Seven.**

Had Persephone cast Hermes out?

**Six, five.**

Hades ran a hand through his hair.

**Four, three, two.**

Could Persephone be sleeping?

**_One._ **

Hades reached the landing of the second floor and quickly pushed his way through the closed door of their bedroom, quietly slipping off his snakeskin shoes so not to disturb a potentially slumbering Persephone.

The room was dark, curtains drawn tight to their window and shrouding the room in complete darkness. Hades would have found the dark comforting, if not for the fact that Persephone was so fond of light.

When Hades narrowed his eyes and blinked a few times, quickly adjusting to the darkness, he saw that Persephone was not asleep.

Instead, his wife was sitting straight up, staring at the wall ahead of her with no emotion on her face.

Her shoulders didn’t quake with sobs, her breath didn’t catch in her throat or hesitate to be taken into her lungs. 

Persephone’s hands did not tightly cradle her rib cage for comfort as she was known to do, instead her hands sat limply in her lap and her fingers were intwined within themselves.

“Lover?” Hades spoke softly, noting how Persephone flinched at the mere sound of his voice.

Her head turned, just slightly enough that he wouldn’t have caught it if Hades hadn’t been looking for an indication she’d heard him.

“Wondered if you’d like me to join you. It ain’t good to shut yourself away.” Hades chose his words carefully, not wanting to further press the loss of their child and hurt Persephone further.

She nodded once, but didn’t move another muscle.

Hades wasn’t sure how much time had passed as he sat with his wife in the dark silence of their bedroom, no light visible to indicate the passage of time, no clock on the wall for him to squint at.

All Hades knew was that this silence was deadly. Persephone was so upset that she’d passed the point of hysterics and gone straight to mute.

It was one thing for Persephone to be so angry she stopped speaking, but this was uncharted territory.

Even through the dark, Hades could just barely make out the dried outline of tears on her cheeks, could hear the way she inhaled and her stuffed nose tried to resist, could feel the trembling of her body on the bed.

Then, Persephone’s stomach growled.

Hades wordlessly got off of the edge of the bed and excused himself for a moment. Persephone didn’t bother to respond, but Hades was back a mere five minutes later with a plate of apple chunks in his good hand.

“Here.” Hades murmured softly, placing one bite-sized chunk in Persephone’s hand.

Persephone scoffed to herself, and quickly placed the chunk back on the plate without even a glance at Hades.

Hades picked up the piece of fruit again, but did not place it back in Persephone’s hand. Instead, he brought the fruit up to Persephone’s lips and waited for her to take it from him.

When Persephone didn’t try, Hades pressed a ghost of a kiss to her temple.

“Ain’t gonna let you starve yourself, darlin’. Eat.” He whispered, voice as warm as he could make it.

To hell with the sadness he felt, his priority was Persephone.

Persephone continued making no effort to eat, and Hades knew then he’d have to play a little hardball to get her to comply.

“Alright. You don’t have to eat if you don’t want to, but I won’t take a _single_ bite of food until you do.” He tried, and was pleased when Persephone sighed and allowed him to feed her the fruit from the plate.

Once the plate had been cleared, Hades entered the bathroom and picked up Persephone’s hairbrush. He’d noticed how disheveled her hair had become, how tangled.

As he gently worked the brush through her hair, humming their melody as he did so, Persephone blinked a few times, glancing around the dark room.

When her hair was brushed to Hades’ liking, he gently helped her out of bed and into the bathroom to change her nightgown, and when she had slipped into the black one, Hades changed the bedding and put down another layer of thick black towels before he offered her his hand to take.

Then, something snapped inside of Persephone.

Her hand shoved his hand away and threw the damned brush on the floor with a loud clatter.

Hades winced, the feeling of pain sparking violently in his broken hand.

“You’re _injured._ ” Persephone hissed, and when Hades shook his head in an attempt to hide his pain she strode forward and squeezed his hand.

Hades almost fell to his knees, gritting his teeth as Persephone suddenly released his hand.

“Did you do this because of me?” She hissed, stalking away from him and running her fingers through her hair.

“No.” Hades replied sincerely.

That answer wasn’t good enough for Persephone.

“Liar.” She muttered, then was silent for another moment.

Hades watched tensely as Persephone battled herself in her own grief, noticing that she wasn’t winning that battle.

“I don’t understand!” Persephone finally broke down, wailing as she crumpled to her knees on the bathroom tile and weeping openly.

“Understand?” Hades inquired, also going to his knees and placing a gentle hand on her back.

Persephone laughed then, a dark, hateful laugh that scared Hades more than he knew how to say.

“Why are you being so _good_ to me?! I don’t deserve it! I’m the reason our baby is gone, don’t you understand that? It’s _my_ fault!” Persephone shrieked, slamming her fist into the floor and choking on her own sobs, like Hades had expected to find her earlier.

Hades blinked once, stunned by his lover’s outburst, then brought gentle fingertips to raise her chin. 

Her eyes met his, orbs of amber drowning in glassy tears yet to be shed, her lip trembling as she tried to stifle another sob.

“It ain’t your fault, Seph. I’m not angry, I just want to make sure you’re gonna be okay.” Hades’ voice was soft, and it finally began to tremble with his own cries that had been bit back.

Persephone didn’t seem satisfied with this answer, shoving Hades away from her and clutching her necklace with desperate fingers.

“You should be _mad_ , don’t you understand that, you fucking fool?! You should be **furious** with me!” 

Hades brought Persephone to his chest, and sat there while she sobbed and pounded one fist into his chest as she sobbed out unintelligible words until she suddenly stopped moving and sobbing.

Hades glanced down, and noticed with relief that she had fallen asleep, then moved them both back onto their bed.

The next morning, Persephone started her day with a glass of wine and the notion that nothing important had happened at all, while Hades slunk back to his office and drowned his sorrows in work. The start of a vicious cycle of fighting and unhappiness.

The gods have forgotten the song of their love.


End file.
